[MetroMan]

^ You're referring to China. I don't know if China is still considered a 3rd world country but you're story comes from China. Plastic bags are banned, at least in parts of China.

Packaging as a whole needs to be focused on in general.

A tube of toothpaste is made out of petroleum based plastics and rubbers plus metal linings and a cap made out of a different type of plastic. The tube comes in a cardboard box, sometimes wrapped in cellophane.

The correct direction is demonstrated by the new style toothpaste containers. They're made up of 2 parts of the same type of hard plastic (Type 1 - Polyethylene Terephthalate "PETE"). The whole container can be disposed as one piece and gets 100% recycled.

Some brands didn't get the point and still wrap the whole thing in a plastic enclosure but it'll eventually get worked out.

 

[harsh]

This is a cash grab for retailers. If the key is to be environmentally friendly(EF), fine as an individual I will take ownership and recycle. What are you as a company doing to be EF? Charge your customers??? Why don't YOU donate to these charities with YOUR money not OURS if you really cared.

Better yet STOP providing plastic bags and provide QUALITY PAPER BAGS which are EF. The LCBO did this last year on their own accord and I respect that and acknowledge their effort. But I laugh when managers at walmart say they're being responsible by doing NOTHING DIFFERENT other than charging customers. The bags are still there and you are forced to pay 5 cents walk out juggling items or PURCHASE a reuseable BAG for another FEE(another cash grab)!?!?!?!?!!


CORPORATIONS SHOULD BARE THE BURNT OF THE RESPONSIBILITY NOT THE LOWLY CUSTOMER AFTER ALL WHO PRODUCES MORE WASTE/TOXINS/POLLUTION .....LITTLE OL' ME IN MY 1BR CONDO OR WALMART????

END

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

i don't think paper bags are environmentally friendly. i think you can only recycle paper certain amount of times before it is not useful fore being recycled any more.

 

[afransen]

This is a cash grab for retailers. If the key is to be environmentally friendly(EF), fine as an individual I will take ownership and recycle. What are you as a company doing to be EF? Charge your customers??? Why don't YOU donate to these charities with YOUR money not OURS if you really cared.

Better yet STOP providing plastic bags and provide QUALITY PAPER BAGS which are EF. The LCBO did this last year on their own accord and I respect that and acknowledge their effort. But I laugh when managers at walmart say they're being responsible by doing NOTHING DIFFERENT other than charging customers. The bags are still there and you are forced to pay 5 cents walk out juggling items or PURCHASE a reuseable BAG for another FEE(another cash grab)!?!?!?!?!!


CORPORATIONS SHOULD BARE THE BURNT OF THE RESPONSIBILITY NOT THE LOWLY CUSTOMER AFTER ALL WHO PRODUCES MORE WASTE/TOXINS/POLLUTION .....LITTLE OL' ME IN MY 1BR CONDO OR WALMART????

END

Walmart's job is to make money for shareholders. That's it. Beyond that, the consumer always pays for it in the end. You're arguing that it matters which pocket it comes from. It does not.

 

[harsh]

Walmart's job is to make money for shareholders. That's it. Beyond that, the consumer always pays for it in the end. You're arguing that it matters which pocket it comes from. It does not.

My point is that these corporations are claiming to be EF and act like they're making a difference but its a facade. They've done nothing but charge us for the same thing we were getting for free. Nothing else. and like the article said it only costs 1-2 cents to produce one plastic bag so why the mark up? its straight profit so why not be honest CALL A SPADE A SPADE, AND A SHAFT A SHAFT and spare the self congratulatory pat on the back

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

My point is that these corporations are claiming to be EF and act like they're making a difference but its a facade. They've done nothing but charge us for the same thing we were getting for free. Nothing else. and like the article said it only costs 1-2 cents to produce one plastic bag so why the mark up? its straight profit so why not be honest CALL A SPADE A SPADE, AND A SHAFT A SHAFT and spare the self congratulatory pat on the back

even though the bags were "free", the cost was absorbed by the things being sold (fee 1) so one way or another we still payed for bags even though they were free. i have a feeling though that those previous costs tacked on to merchandise have not been removed since the introduction the 5 cent charge (fee 2). we're probably paying twice for bags now and people who don't use bags are still paying for bags through "fee 1".

one thing to mention though, the lost productivity of cashiers taking time punching in bag fees, taking caution to count bags and distribute them accordingly, the customer taking time deciding how many bags to purchase, etc. probably screws up the profit margin on bags for the retailer. it could end up being a pain in the ass for retailers. there could be a whole bureaucracy for them to deal with.

 

[Mr.Colley]

Yah, I know china was one of them, but there was another I couldn't find the article last night, but I will for yah and post it later...

 

[wonderboy416]

even though the bags were "free", the cost was absorbed by the things being sold (fee 1) so one way or another we still payed for bags even though they were free. i have a feeling though that those previous costs tacked on to merchandise have not been removed since the introduction the 5 cent charge (fee 2). we're probably paying twice for bags now and people who don't use bags are still paying for bags through "fee 1".

So... you want your total grocery bill reduced by... 1 or 2 cents each time you visit?

Why not complain about the fact that prices are marked up to end in a 9 (or as wal mart often does 7 cents). I'm sure price rounding costs you far more pennies than the built-in overhead of plastic bags... Isn't minimum wage in Ontario around $10 now? I'm confused as to why this is even an issue...

 

[nfitz]

It isn't an issue ... some people just need something to whine about!

 

[DavidJamesTO]

And they do--over and over and over and over...

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

So... you want your total grocery bill reduced by... 1 or 2 cents each time you visit?

Why not complain about the fact that prices are marked up to end in a 9 (or as wal mart often does 7 cents). I'm sure price rounding costs you far more pennies than the built-in overhead of plastic bags... Isn't minimum wage in Ontario around $10 now? I'm confused as to why this is even an issue...

It isn't an issue ... some people just need something to whine about!

it's not an issue for me. i'm simply stating my opinion to people who believe that paying 5c for bags will lead to lower costs for consumers who don't use plastic bags. it's not a whine, it's more of an analysis.

 

[Mr.Colley]

Ok, Here's a random thought,
If they are trying to eliminate plastic bags, what does that do to garbage bags? They are just as big of a problem. In fact they very well may become more of a problem as I know 2/3 people will use the ones they get as garbage bags if they make it into the home or car? so If they stop selling them altogether, then regular garbage bags sales are going to go up. It only stands to reason. Does that not equate to the same issue? Correct me if I'm wrong in thinking but it seems almost redundant.

 

[MetroMan]

^ Currently, the situation is that people use retail shopping plastic bags to line their garbage bins. That's good because they're at least reusing the bag for a purpose other than their trip home with their shopping. The issue stands in that the garbage and the bags get thrown into dumps and remain in that state for 1000 years.

What should be happening is that garbage liners be all biodegradable. There are some brands of garbage liners like this already. It works for both the green bin and the regular trash. In both situations, the bag dissolves over a couple of weeks in contact with moisture. Whatever is biodegradable/compostable returns to nature, including the bag.

Regulating this is straightforward. Once we get people and the industry in the habit of not using plastic bags, the remaining holdouts will see the plastic bag eliminated by prohibiting their sale in the city (this should be province and countrywide, but let the city set the example and do its own thing for now). Having that ban on plastic bags, the next step is to ban plastic garbage liners and allow only the biodegradable kind... which the industry is voluntarily moving towards anyway.

 

[MetroMan]

Here's an example:

An added benefit of making the plastic bags less ubiquitous is that less of them will end up as dog poop bags which people throw in with regular garbage in parks.

Solving the situation with dog bags...

Dog owners could buy them like this:

Or the city could provide them like this:

 

[Mr.Colley]

Finally a solition that has some brains behind it. I never would have thought of that to be honest. How is it priced compated to traditional black bags?